Trending stories in game activity feeds

ABSTRACT

Activity feeds let users know about what is happening, and stay connected, with their friends and games. Users are able to discover new and exciting stories, games and friends. The information presented for a particular user is the most relevant information for that user. Relevancy is used to determine the priority of how items/feed stories are presented for a user. Feed stories are shown for a particular user&#39;s friends. The most popular trending stories are shown to all users based on relevancy rules. Most popular trending stories are determined based on the ones that have the most comments and likes. The activity feeds relating to a particular type are able to be condensed and presented to the users. Custom actions for the particular type of condensed activity feeds are identical. Condensed activity feeds are displayed using a predefined format “condensed title.”

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of the U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/770,519, filed Feb. 28, 2013and titled, “Activity Feed” and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser.No. 61/904,093, filed Nov. 14, 2013 and titled, “Game Activity FeedsTrending and Compressing Stories,” which are both hereby incorporated byreference in their entireties for all purposes.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of video gaming. Morespecifically, the present invention relates to activity feeds in videogaming.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Game activity feeds let users know what is happening, and stayconnected, with their friends and games. The feeds enable users todiscover new and exciting stories, games and friends and deliver theinformation to a user. The feed can contain a large amount of activitiesthat are happening around a user, some important and some not important.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Activity feeds let users know about what is happening, and stayconnected, with their friends and games. Users are able to discover newand exciting stories, games and friends. The information presented for aparticular user is the most relevant information for that user.Relevancy is used to determine the priority of how items/feed storiesare presented for a user. Feed stories are shown for a particular user'sfriends. The most popular trending stories are shown to all users basedon relevancy rules. Most popular trending stories are determined basedon the ones that have the most comments and likes. The activity feedsrelating to a particular type are able to be condensed and presented tothe users. Custom actions for the particular type of condensed activityfeeds are identical. Condensed activity feeds are displayed using apredefined format “condensed title.”

In one aspect, a method programmed in a non-transitory memory of adevice comprises receiving a plurality of activity feed stories fromusers while the users are participating in an activity and transmittingtrending activity feed stories to all users participating in theactivity based on relevancy criteria. The activity comprises playinggames; purchasing a piece of content from a store; uploading a video ora screenshot, a generic post from in-game; becoming friends with someoneelse; liking a product in the store; a promotional item; watching avideo from a service; rating a game; receiving a trophy from aparticular game; a profile picture being changed; playing with people;broadcasting a game or subscribing to a service. The games comprisegaming console games. Trending activity feed stories are determinedbased on comments and likes. An activity feed with the most commentsand/or the most likes is a most popular trending activity feed. A subsetof the plurality of activity feed stories is condensed and presented toa user. The relevancy criteria includes number of comments and number oflikes. The relevancy criteria includes story type, source, user targetsand title targets and story activity. The relevancy criteria includes astory type relevancy constant, a relationship relevancy, a titlerelevancy and a story activity. The relationship relevancy includesfriends in common, story interaction, comment interaction, likeinteraction and title interaction. The title relevancy includes a titleconstant and title frequency. The story activity includes story commentsand story likes. Each activity feed story of the plurality of activityfeed stories comprises at least one of in-game content/sharing,publisher/developer promotions, purchased content, video upload,screenshot upload, friending, liked piece of content, store promotion,social network post, watched a video, rating, trophy, profile picture,launched game first time, user played with these people, user played agame and user started broadcasting a stream. The device comprises apersonal computer, a laptop computer, a computer workstation, a server,a mainframe computer, a handheld computer, a personal digital assistant,a cellular/mobile telephone, a smart appliance, a gaming console, adigital camera, a digital camcorder, a camera phone, a smart phone, aportable music player, a tablet computer, a mobile device, a videoplayer, a video disc writer/player, a high definition discwriter/player, an ultra high definition disc writer/player), atelevision, a home entertainment system, or a smart watch.

In another aspect, a method programmed in a non-transitory memory of adevice comprises displaying a gaming environment, receiving onlytrending activity feed stories and displaying only the trending activityfeed stories in the gaming environment. Trending activity feed storiesare determined based on comments and likes. An activity feed with themost comments and/or the most likes is a most popular trending activityfeed. The trending activity feed stories are filtered using relevancycriteria. The relevancy criteria includes number of comments and numberof likes. The relevancy criteria includes story type, source, usertargets and title targets and story activity. The relevancy criteriaincludes a story type relevancy constant, a relationship relevancy, atitle relevancy and a story activity. The relationship relevancyincludes friends in common, story interaction, comment interaction, likeinteraction and title interaction. The title relevancy includes a titleconstant and title frequency. The story activity includes story commentsand story likes. Each activity feed story of the plurality of activityfeed stories comprises at least one of in-game content/sharing,publisher/developer promotions, purchased content, video upload,screenshot upload, friending, liked piece of content, store promotion,social network post, watched a video, rating, trophy, profile picture,launched game first time, user played with these people, user played agame and user started broadcasting a stream. The device comprises apersonal computer, a laptop computer, a computer workstation, a server,a mainframe computer, a handheld computer, a personal digital assistant,a cellular/mobile telephone, a smart appliance, a gaming console, adigital camera, a digital camcorder, a camera phone, a smart phone, aportable music player, a tablet computer, a mobile device, a videoplayer, a video disc writer/player, a high definition discwriter/player, an ultra high definition disc writer/player), atelevision, a home entertainment system, or a smart watch.

In another aspect, an apparatus comprises a non-transitory memory forstoring an application, the application for: receiving a plurality ofactivity feed stories while the users are participating in an activityand transmitting trending activity feed stories to all usersparticipating in the activity based on relevancy criteria and aprocessing component coupled to the memory, the processing componentconfigured for processing the application. The activity comprisesplaying games; purchasing a piece of content from a store; uploading avideo or a screenshot, a generic post from in-game; becoming friendswith someone else; liking a product in the store; a promotional item;watching a video from a service; rating a game; receiving a trophy froma particular game; a profile picture being changed; playing with people;broadcasting a game or subscribing to a service. The games comprisegaming console games. Trending activity feed stories are determinedbased on comments and likes. An activity feed with the most commentsand/or the most likes is a most popular trending activity feed.

In yet another aspect, a gaming console apparatus comprises anon-transitory memory for storing an application, the application for:displaying a gaming environment, receiving only trending activity feedstories and displaying only the trending activity feed stories in thegaming environment and a processing component coupled to the memory, theprocessing component configured for processing the application. Trendingactivity feed stories are determined based on comments and likes. Anactivity feed with the most comments and/or the most likes is a mostpopular trending activity feed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary screenshot of how activity feed stories appearaccording to some embodiments.

FIG. 2 shows exemplary screenshots of accessing a news feed according tosome embodiments.

FIG. 3 shows exemplary screenshots of an activity feed on a user'sprofile page and an activity feed on a mobile application (“app”)according to some embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates a diagram of in-game activity data flow according tosome embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates a diagram of a system implementing an activity feedREST API according to some embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates a diagram of cross title analysis according to someembodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates a diagram of cross title analysis according to someembodiments.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flowchart of a method of presenting an activityfeed according to some embodiments.

FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary computing deviceconfigured to implement the activity feeds method according to someembodiments.

FIG. 10 illustrates a diagram of utilizing a block storage mechanism forstoring stories according to some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Activity feeds or game activity feeds enable users to be informed ofwhat is happening, and stay connected, with their friends and games. Theactivity feeds enable users to discover new and exciting stories, gamesand friends. The activity feeds contain text, images, videos,content/title information, users associated with a story, socialnetworking information and/or any other information. A “title” isanother name for a game, and “title information” or a “title identifier”is a unique identification for a game. The activity feeds deliver themost relevant information for a user. Since a feed is able to contain alarge amount of activities that are happening around a user, relevancyis used to determine the priority of how items are presented to a user.

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary screenshot of how activity feed stories appearaccording to some embodiments. In the example, FIG. 1 shows items suchas the user's feed stories, feed stories from the user's friends,promotional stories from publishers and promotional stories fromdevelopers. Some examples shown in FIG. 1 include: a video being sharedby a contact, another user being the current user's score, a userjoining a group, purchase/download of a game by another user, a windowof 4 friends playing a game (consolidated from listing the names of the4 friends playing the game), a movie/game review, information about auser streaming a movie, a user liking a show and a window of 8 friendssaving a screenshot (consolidated from listing the names of the 8friends). FIG. 2 shows exemplary screenshots of accessing a news feedaccording to some embodiments. FIG. 3 shows exemplary screenshots of anactivity feed on a user's profile page and an activity feed on a mobileapp according to some embodiments.

There are many types of activity feeds such as in-game content/sharing,publisher/developer promotions, purchased content, video upload,screenshot upload, friending, liked piece of content, store promotion,social network post, watched a video, rating, trophy, profile picture,launched game first time, user played with these people, user played agame, user started broadcasting a stream and any other type of activityfeed. Feed stories are able to be shown in-game.

FIG. 4 illustrates a diagram of in-game activity data flow according tosome embodiments. A game server 400 retrieves an OAuth token from agaming console network OAuth Service 404, and a game 402 retrieves anOAuth token from the gaming console network OAuth Service 404. The game402 sends interesting data to the game server 400. The game server callsPOST activity feed for IN_GAME_POST feed type. The game 402, using a WebAPI Library 406 calls POST activity feed for IN_GAME_POST feed type.Other implementations of presenting activity feeds are possible.

In some embodiments, stories are able to be condensed. IN_GAME_POSTstories are rolled up for the title, based on the subType field. Thesewill show up as a single condensed story in “Activity Feeds” or anotherarea. A condensedTitles property is also able to be set to identify howthe text shows up if the stories are condensed. An example of acondensed story is instead of displaying, Alvin played Video Game X, Bobplayed Video Game X and Candy played Video Game X, the display shows 3friends played Video Game X.

An activity feed administration tool enables developers to add activityfeed stories into their title's activity feed. The tool also enablesdevelopers to view an activity feed for their title, for a specificuser. The tool also enables store operators the ability to globallyadminister take-downs and add store-specific activity feed items. Storepromotions and publisher promotions are able to be managed as well. Forexample, a promotional item from store operators is able to be placed ina user's feed. In another example, a promotional item from a publisheris able to be placed in a user's feed.

FIG. 5 illustrates a diagram of a system implementing an activity feedREpresentative State Transfer (REST) API according to some embodiments.The activity feed REST API 500 is used for submitting and retrievingactivity feed data to and from an Activity Store 502. The API 500submits aggregation requests into the aggregation queue. Additionally,filtering, parental controls, privacy and localization occur in the API500. An aggregation queue 504 generates aggregation requests andinitiates aggregations to the aggregator 506. The aggregator 506generates activity feed blocks and calculates relevancy. The activitystore 502 stores post data and aggregated feed blocks.

There are many commands to be used for processing/manipulating feeds.Some of the commands/functions enable: retrieving the activity feed fora title; retrieving the activity feed across all of a user's friends;retrieving the personal activity feed for a user; retrieving uploadedvideos for a user; retrieving the uploaded screenshots for a user;retrieving the activity feed for the “played with” story type (users whorecently played with in a match); retrieving the activity feed for the“broadcasting” story type (users who recently started broadcasting);retrieving the activity feed for the “watched videos” story type (userswho recently started watching); submitting an activity feed story for auser; submitting a publisher promotion; submitting an activity feedstory for a store promotion; resharing an activity feed story fromsomeone else; submitting a comment and indicating that the user likes astory.

In some embodiments, the activity feeds are based on the title of themedia (e.g., game). In some embodiments, an implementation is used tomatch games that have different titles based on translation or similarreasons. For example, if a video game has a title ID of “ABC” in theU.S. and has a title ID of “CDE” in Germany, an implementation (e.g.,look up table) is utilized to match the titles, and offer the sameactivity feed for both titles. For example, the system recognizes thatFriend A is playing the US version of Video Game X and Friend B isplaying the German version of Video Game X, and the activity is shown intheir title feeds.

FIG. 6 illustrates a diagram of cross title analysis according to someembodiments. A game 600 makes an activity feed POST. An activity feedAPI 602 starts aggregation. The post is stored in an activity store 604.An aggregator 606 receives the data to aggregate from the activity store604. The aggregator 606 receives related titles based on the specifiedtitle identification/identifier from the server 608. The aggregator 606updates the titles feed for all of the relevant titles.

FIG. 7 illustrates a diagram of cross title analysis according to someembodiments. A game 600 makes an activity feed POST. An activity feedAPI 602 looks up a parent identification for the title identification(e.g., using the server 608). The post is stored in an activity store604. The activity feed API 602 starts aggregation. An aggregator 606receives the data to aggregate from the activity store 604. Theaggregator 606 receives related titles based on the specified titleidentifier from the server 608. The aggregator 606 updates the titlesfeed for all of the relevant titles.

In some embodiments, activity feeds are rate-limited based on the numberof times the client has posted to the service within a time period.

In some embodiments, a privacy setting for feeds is able to be set.Exemplary privacy settings include: all, friends of friends, friends,and only me. Privacy settings are able to be applied to videos, trophiesand other items.

In some embodiments, activity feed data is limited based on a user'sage. For example, an 8 year old will not receive “mature” content in anactivity feed.

In some embodiments, users receive activity feeds/stories based onrelevancy of the feed to the user. Each story has several elements suchas a source (user), story type and target (user(s) and target(s)).

A base formula for determining Story Relevancy is:S=Story Type+Source+Targets (Users and Titles)+Story ActivityS _(r) =S _(k)+Σ(R _(r) +T _(r))+S _(a)

S_(r)=Story relevancy

S_(k)=Story type relevancy constant

R_(r)=Relationship relevancy (source and targets)

T_(r)=Title relevancy

S_(a)=Story activity

Relationship relevancy (R_(r)) is:R _(r) =F _(c) +S _(i) +C _(i) +L _(i) +T _(i)

F_(c)=Friends in common

S_(i)=Story interaction

C_(i)=Comment interaction

L_(i)=Like interaction

T_(i)=Title interaction

Title relevancy (T_(r)) is:T _(r) =T _(k) +T _(f)

T_(k)=Title constant

T_(f)=Title frequency

Story activity (S_(a)) is:S _(a) =S _(c) +S _(l)

S_(c)=Story comments

S_(l)=Story likes

All together:S _(r) =S _(k)+Σ(F _(c) +S _(i) +C _(i) +L _(i) +T _(i))+Σ(T _(k) +T_(f))+S _(c) +S _(l)Stories are evaluated only for live block (top block of stories). If auser is a source or target or the user liked/commented, then the storyis automatically relevant. In some embodiments, stories are evaluatedonly when the count in the block exceeds the block size. When the numberof relevant stories in the block is twice the size of the block (“n”)size, the last “n” becomes “archived” (moved to a new block).

The story type relevancy constant is able to be any constant or a set ofconstants based on the story type. The relationship relevancy is basedon the number of friends in common, whether the user or others haveinteracted with the story and how many times, whether the user or othershave commented on the story and how many times, whether the user orothers have “liked” the story and how many times and whether the user orothers have interacted with the title and how many times. The titleconstant is able to be any constant based on the title. The titlefrequency is the number of times the title has been referenced, accessedand/or any other quality. The story comments are the number of commentsa story has received, and the story likes are the number of likes astory has received.

In some embodiments, store promotions are maintained in a separatedatastore. Operators are able to adjust the order of how these storiesshow up per region. The activity feed API retrieves the order of thestories from the store promotions datastore and intersperses them forall users in the newsfeed based on the order they are kept in the storepromotions datastore.

When a user purchases content (e.g., game, downloadable content, app,video), the purchase information is published to the server. If theprivacy settings allow others to see the purchase, the purchased feedwill be displayed for other users. The information will be displayed ona “Game Details” view of the product, on the “Activity Feeds” page andthe profile page of the user.

In some embodiments, video/screenshot sharing is implemented. Theactivity story informs a user that a friend shared a game play video orscreenshot. The information is published to the server when the userposts the video/screenshot. The information will be displayed on a “GameDetails” view of the product, on the “Activity Feeds” page and theprofile page of the user. In some embodiments, the video/screenshotsharing shares the content on other social networking sites or othervideo sharing sites.

Additional activity stories include: played a game, which describes howmany and/or which friends played a game and when; watched a video on avideo sharing site (or other source), which describes which friendswatched a video (including which video) and when; unlocked a trophy,which describes who unlocked which trophy; in-game activity, whichdescribes who joins a group, beats a score, or performs anothertask/event in a game; broadcasting started, which describes when afriend starts broadcasting; liked content, which describes who “like”what content; 5-star rating, which describes when a friend provides arating of content; profile picture update, which informs a user when afriend updates a profile picture (e.g., avatar); friending, whichdescribes a friend becoming friends with someone else; publisherpromotion which includes a promotion by a publisher (e.g., anadvertisement for an upcoming tournament or a new game to purchase);promotion; recently played with, which describes who a user played within a match, tournament or other game. These activity stories are sent tothe server at the appropriate times, such as after a video is watched orwhen the trophy is unlocked.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flowchart of a method of presenting an activityfeed according to some embodiments. In the step 800, a user participatesin an activity (e.g., plays a video game on a gaming console). Otheractivities include: purchasing a piece of content from a store;uploading a video or a screenshot, a generic post from in-game; becomingfriends with someone else; liking a product in the store; a promotionalitem; watching a video from a service; rating a game; receiving a trophyfrom a particular game; a profile picture being changed; playing withpeople; broadcasting a game and subscribing to a service. In the step802, the game/game console receives an activity feed which includesactivity feed stories. As described herein, the activity feed storiesare able to include a variety of items such as screen shots, videoclips, text and/or many other items. The activity feed stories are ableto be from other users, friends of the user, advertisers, developersand/or any other entity. In some embodiments, the activity feed storiesare manipulated in the step 804. For example, the activity feed storiesare consolidated into a single story to save on display space. Inanother example, the activity feed stories are analyzed for relevancy,and only relevant stories are displayed for the user. In anotherexample, activity feeds are condensed and/or displayed based on theparticular type of feed. In the step 806, the activity feed is displayed(e.g., on the user's television or handheld display). For example, ascreenshot from a friend is displayed for a user. In some embodiments,fewer or additional steps are implemented.

FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary computing deviceconfigured to implement the activity feeds method according to someembodiments. The computing device 900 is able to be used to acquire,store, compute, process, communicate and/or display information such asgames, text, images and videos. In general, a hardware structuresuitable for implementing the computing device 900 includes a networkinterface 902, a memory 904, a processor 906, I/O device(s) 908, a bus910 and a storage device 912. The choice of processor is not critical aslong as a suitable processor with sufficient speed is chosen. The memory904 is able to be any conventional computer memory known in the art. Thestorage device 912 is able to include a hard drive, CDROM, CDRW, DVD,DVDRW, HD disc/drive, ultra-HD drive, flash memory card or any otherstorage device. The computing device 900 is able to include one or morenetwork interfaces 902. An example of a network interface includes anetwork card connected to an Ethernet or other type of LAN. The I/Odevice(s) 908 are able to include one or more of the following:keyboard, mouse, monitor, screen, printer, modem, touchscreen, buttoninterface and other devices. Activity feed application(s) 930 used toperform the activity feed method are likely to be stored in the storagedevice 912 and memory 904 and processed as applications are typicallyprocessed. More or fewer components shown in FIG. 9 are able to beincluded in the computing device 900. In some embodiments, activity feedhardware 920 is included. Although the computing device 900 in FIG. 9includes applications 930 and hardware 920 for the activity feed method,the activity feed method is able to be implemented on a computing devicein hardware, firmware, software or any combination thereof. For example,in some embodiments, the activity feed applications 930 are programmedin a memory and executed using a processor. In another example, in someembodiments, the activity feed hardware 920 is programmed hardware logicincluding gates specifically designed to implement the activity feedmethod.

In some embodiments, the activity feed application(s) 930 includeseveral applications and/or modules. In some embodiments, modulesinclude one or more sub-modules as well. In some embodiments, fewer oradditional modules are able to be included.

Examples of suitable computing devices include a personal computer, alaptop computer, a computer workstation, a server, a mainframe computer,a handheld computer, a personal digital assistant, a cellular/mobiletelephone, a smart appliance, a gaming console, a digital camera, adigital camcorder, a camera phone, a smart phone, a portable musicplayer, a tablet computer, a mobile device, a video player, a video discwriter/player (e.g., DVD writer/player, high definition discwriter/player, ultra high definition disc writer/player), a television,a home entertainment system, smart jewelry (e.g., smart watch) or anyother suitable computing device.

FIG. 10 illustrates a diagram of utilizing a block storage mechanism forstoring stories according to some embodiments. A live block, or block 0,contains the most current story aggregations. The aggregator operates onthe live block. The historical blocks, or blocks 1-5, contain archivedstory aggregations. Clients are able to simulate paging by requestingolder blocks. Each block contains a finite number of activity stories.For each block, relevancy algorithms are applied on only the currentblock. The blocks are computed for the newsfeed for each user. Theaggregations are filtered based on privacy and preferences. Thefiltering is performed in real-time.

To utilize activity feeds, users participate in an activity such asgaming, and relevant activity feeds are presented to the user during theactivity. Users are able to interact using the activity feeds such as bysending content to other users as well as receive content from otherusers. Additionally, users are able to manually modify the type ofcontent received/sent in activity feeds and other qualities of theactivity feeds such as by changing privacy settings. In someembodiments, the qualities of the activity feeds are modifiedautomatically based on analysis of user actions and/or othercharacteristics of the user.

In operation, activity feeds let users know about what is happening, andstay connected, with their friends and games. Users are able to discovernew and exciting stories, games and friends. Activity feeds have feedstories that contain text, images, videos, content/title information andusers associated with the respective feed stories. The informationpresented for a particular user is the most relevant information forthat user. Relevancy is used to determine the priority of how items/feedstories are presented for a user. Feed stories are shown for aparticular user's friends. The most popular trending stories are shownto all users based on relevancy rules. Most popular trending stories aredetermined based on the ones that have the most comments and likes.

The activity feeds relating to a particular type (e.g., the same game)are able to be condensed and presented to the users. In someembodiments, custom actions for the particular type of condensedactivity feeds are identical. In some embodiments, condensed activityfeeds are displayed using a predefined format “condensed title.”

Some Embodiments of Trending Stories in Game Activity Feeds

-   1. A method programmed in a non-transitory memory of a device    comprising:    -   a. receiving a plurality of activity feed stories from users        while the users are participating in an activity; and    -   b. transmitting trending activity feed stories to all users        participating in the activity based on relevancy criteria.-   2. The method of clause 1 wherein the activity comprises playing    games; purchasing a piece of content from a store; uploading a video    or a screenshot, a generic post from in-game; becoming friends with    someone else; liking a product in the store; a promotional item;    watching a video from a service; rating a game; receiving a trophy    from a particular game; a profile picture being changed; playing    with people; broadcasting a game or subscribing to a service.-   3. The method of clause 2 wherein the games comprise gaming console    games.-   4. The method of clause 1 wherein trending activity feed stories are    determined based on comments and likes.-   5. The method of clause 4 wherein an activity feed with the most    comments and/or the most likes is a most popular trending activity    feed.-   6. The method of clause 1 wherein a subset of the plurality of    activity feed stories is condensed and presented to a user.-   7. The method of clause 1 wherein the relevancy criteria includes    number of comments and number of likes.-   8. The method of clause 1 wherein the relevancy criteria includes    story type, source, user targets and title targets and story    activity.-   9. The method of clause 1 wherein the relevancy criteria includes a    story type relevancy constant, a relationship relevancy, a title    relevancy and a story activity.-   10. The method of clause 9 wherein the relationship relevancy    includes friends in common, story interaction, comment interaction,    like interaction and title interaction.-   11. The method of clause 9 wherein the title relevancy includes a    title constant and title frequency.-   12. The method of clause 9 wherein the story activity includes story    comments and story likes.-   13. The method of clause 1 wherein each activity feed story of the    plurality of activity feed stories comprises at least one of in-game    content/sharing, publisher/developer promotions, purchased content,    video upload, screenshot upload, friending, liked piece of content,    store promotion, social network post, watched a video, rating,    trophy, profile picture, launched game first time, user played with    these people, user played a game and user started broadcasting a    stream.-   14. The method of clause 1 wherein the device comprises a personal    computer, a laptop computer, a computer workstation, a server, a    mainframe computer, a handheld computer, a personal digital    assistant, a cellular/mobile telephone, a smart appliance, a gaming    console, a digital camera, a digital camcorder, a camera phone, a    smart phone, a portable music player, a tablet computer, a mobile    device, a video player, a video disc writer/player, a high    definition disc writer/player, an ultra high definition disc    writer/player), a television, a home entertainment system, or a    smart watch.-   15. A method programmed in a non-transitory memory of a device    comprising:    -   a. displaying a gaming environment;    -   b. receiving only trending activity feed stories; and    -   c. displaying only the trending activity feed stories in the        gaming environment.-   16. The method of clause 15 wherein trending activity feed stories    are determined based on comments and likes.-   17. The method of clause 16 wherein an activity feed with the most    comments and/or the most likes is a most popular trending activity    feed.-   18. The method of clause 15 wherein the trending activity feed    stories are filtered using relevancy criteria.-   19. The method of clause 18 wherein the relevancy criteria includes    number of comments and number of likes.-   20. The method of clause 18 wherein the relevancy criteria includes    story type, source, user targets and title targets and story    activity.-   21. The method of clause 18 wherein the relevancy criteria includes    a story type relevancy constant, a relationship relevancy, a title    relevancy and a story activity.-   22. The method of clause 21 wherein the relationship relevancy    includes friends in common, story interaction, comment interaction,    like interaction and title interaction.-   23. The method of clause 21 wherein the title relevancy includes a    title constant and title frequency.-   24. The method of clause 21 wherein the story activity includes    story comments and story likes.-   25. The method of clause 15 wherein each activity feed story of the    plurality of activity feed stories comprises at least one of in-game    content/sharing, publisher/developer promotions, purchased content,    video upload, screenshot upload, friending, liked piece of content,    store promotion, social network post, watched a video, rating,    trophy, profile picture, launched game first time, user played with    these people, user played a game and user started broadcasting a    stream.-   26. The method of clause 15 wherein the device comprises a personal    computer, a laptop computer, a computer workstation, a server, a    mainframe computer, a handheld computer, a personal digital    assistant, a cellular/mobile telephone, a smart appliance, a gaming    console, a digital camera, a digital camcorder, a camera phone, a    smart phone, a portable music player, a tablet computer, a mobile    device, a video player, a video disc writer/player, a high    definition disc writer/player, an ultra high definition disc    writer/player), a television, a home entertainment system, or a    smart watch.-   27. An apparatus comprising:    -   a. a non-transitory memory for storing an application, the        application for:        -   i. receiving a plurality of activity feed stories while the            users are participating in an activity; and        -   ii. transmitting trending activity feed stories to all users            participating in the activity based on relevancy criteria;            and    -   b. a processing component coupled to the memory, the processing        component configured for processing the application.-   28. The apparatus of clause 27 wherein the activity comprises    playing games; purchasing a piece of content from a store; uploading    a video or a screenshot, a generic post from in-game; becoming    friends with someone else; liking a product in the store; a    promotional item; watching a video from a service; rating a game;    receiving a trophy from a particular game; a profile picture being    changed; playing with people; broadcasting a game or subscribing to    a service.-   29. The apparatus of clause 28 wherein the games comprise gaming    console games.-   30. The apparatus of clause 27 wherein trending activity feed    stories are determined based on comments and likes.-   31. The apparatus of clause 30 wherein an activity feed with the    most comments and/or the most likes is a most popular trending    activity feed.-   32. A gaming console apparatus comprising:    -   a. a non-transitory memory for storing an application, the        application for:        -   i. displaying a gaming environment;        -   ii. receiving only trending activity feed stories; and        -   iii. displaying only the trending activity feed stories in            the gaming environment; and    -   b. a processing component coupled to the memory, the processing        component configured for processing the application.-   33. The gaming console apparatus of clause 32 wherein trending    activity feed stories are determined based on comments and likes.-   34. The gaming console apparatus of clause 33 wherein an activity    feed with the most comments and/or the most likes is a most popular    trending activity feed.

The present invention has been described in terms of specificembodiments incorporating details to facilitate the understanding ofprinciples of construction and operation of the invention. Suchreference herein to specific embodiments and details thereof is notintended to limit the scope of the claims appended hereto. It will bereadily apparent to one skilled in the art that other variousmodifications may be made in the embodiment chosen for illustrationwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as definedby the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method programmed in a non-transitory memory ofa server device comprising: a. receiving, at the server device, aplurality of activity feed stories from user devices while the users areparticipating in an activity, wherein the activity feed stories arebased on a title of a game, further wherein a lookup table is utilizedby the server device to match the title of the game with one or moretranslated titles of the game, wherein the server device filtersactivity feed stories in real time, wherein an aggregation queue isutilized by the server device to request and aggregate the activity feedstories; and b. transmitting trending activity feed stories to all usersparticipating in the activity based on relevancy criteria.
 2. The methodof claim 1 wherein the activity comprises playing games; purchasing apiece of content from a store; uploading a video or a screenshot, ageneric post from in-game; becoming friends with someone else; liking aproduct in the store; a promotional item; watching a video from aservice; rating a game; receiving a trophy from a particular game; aprofile picture being changed; playing with people; broadcasting a gameor subscribing to a service.
 3. The method of claim 2 wherein the gamescomprise gaming console games.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein trendingactivity feed stories are determined based on comments and likes.
 5. Themethod of claim 4 wherein an activity feed with the most comments and/orthe most likes is a most popular trending activity feed.
 6. The methodof claim 1 wherein a subset of the plurality of activity feed stories iscondensed and presented to a user.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein therelevancy criteria includes number of comments and number of likes. 8.The method of claim 1 wherein the relevancy criteria includes storytype, source, user targets and title targets and story activity.
 9. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the relevancy criteria includes a story typerelevancy constant, a relationship relevancy, a title relevancy and astory activity.
 10. The method of claim 9 wherein the relationshiprelevancy includes friends in common, story interaction, commentinteraction, like interaction and title interaction.
 11. The method ofclaim 9 wherein the title relevancy includes a title constant and titlefrequency.
 12. The method of claim 9 wherein the story activity includesstory comments and story likes.
 13. The method of claim 1 wherein eachactivity feed story of the plurality of activity feed stories comprisesat least one of in-game content/sharing, publisher/developer promotions,purchased content, video upload, screenshot upload, friending, likedpiece of content, store promotion, social network post, watched a video,rating, trophy, profile picture, launched game first time, user playedwith these people, user played a game and user started broadcasting astream.
 14. The method of claim 1 wherein the device comprises apersonal computer, a laptop computer, a computer workstation, a server,a mainframe computer, a handheld computer, a personal digital assistant,a cellular/mobile telephone, a smart appliance, a gaming console, adigital camera, a digital camcorder, a camera phone, a smart phone, aportable music player, a tablet computer, a mobile device, a videoplayer, a video disc writer/player, a high definition discwriter/player, an ultra high definition disc writer/player), atelevision, a home entertainment system, or a smart watch.
 15. A methodprogrammed in a non-transitory memory of a user device comprising: a.displaying a gaming environment on the user device; b. receiving, on theuser device over a network, only trending activity feed stories from agaming console network service implemented on a server device, whereinthe trending activity feed stories are based on a title of a game,further wherein a lookup table is utilized by the server device to matchthe title of the game with one or more translated titles of the game,wherein the server device filters activity feed stories in real time,wherein an aggregation queue is utilized by the server device to requestand aggregate the trending activity feed stories; and c. displaying, onthe user device, only the trending activity feed stories in the gamingenvironment.
 16. The method of claim 15 wherein trending activity feedstories are determined based on comments and likes.
 17. The method ofclaim 16 wherein an activity feed with the most comments and/or the mostlikes is a most popular trending activity feed.
 18. The method of claim15 wherein the trending activity feed stories are filtered usingrelevancy criteria.
 19. The method of claim 18 wherein the relevancycriteria includes number of comments and number of likes.
 20. The methodof claim 18 wherein the relevancy criteria includes story type, source,user targets and title targets and story activity.
 21. The method ofclaim 18 wherein the relevancy criteria includes a story type relevancyconstant, a relationship relevancy, a title relevancy and a storyactivity.
 22. The method of claim 21 wherein the relationship relevancyincludes friends in common, story interaction, comment interaction, likeinteraction and title interaction.
 23. The method of claim 21 whereinthe title relevancy includes a title constant and title frequency. 24.The method of claim 21 wherein the story activity includes storycomments and story likes.
 25. The method of claim 15 wherein eachactivity feed story of the plurality of activity feed stories comprisesat least one of in-game content/sharing, publisher/developer promotions,purchased content, video upload, screenshot upload, friending, likedpiece of content, store promotion, social network post, watched a video,rating, trophy, profile picture, launched game first time, user playedwith these people, user played a game and user started broadcasting astream.
 26. The method of claim 15 wherein the device comprises apersonal computer, a laptop computer, a computer workstation, a server,a mainframe computer, a handheld computer, a personal digital assistant,a cellular/mobile telephone, a smart appliance, a gaming console, adigital camera, a digital camcorder, a camera phone, a smart phone, aportable music player, a tablet computer, a mobile device, a videoplayer, a video disc writer/player, a high definition discwriter/player, an ultra high definition disc writer/player), atelevision, a home entertainment system, or a smart watch.
 27. Anapparatus comprising: a. a non-transitory memory for storing anapplication, the application for: i. receiving a plurality of activityfeed stories from user devices while users are participating in anactivity, wherein the activity feed stories are based on a title of agame, further wherein a lookup table is utilized by the apparatus tomatch the title of the game with one or more translated titles of thegame, wherein the server device filters activity feed stories in realtime, wherein an activity feed application programming interface and anaggregation queue are utilized by the apparatus to request and aggregatethe activity feed stories, further wherein the activity feed applicationprogramming interface enables filtering, parental controls and privacy;ii. condensing, at the apparatus, stories based on a sub-type field,including using a condensed titles property to identify how storiesappear when condensed; and iii. transmitting trending activity feedstories to all user devices participating in the activity based onrelevancy criteria; and b. a processing component coupled to the memory,the processing component configured for processing the application. 28.The apparatus of claim 27 wherein the activity comprises playing games;purchasing a piece of content from a store; uploading a video or ascreenshot, a generic post from in-game; becoming friends with someoneelse; liking a product in the store; a promotional item; watching avideo from a service; rating a game; receiving a trophy from aparticular game; a profile picture being changed; playing with people;broadcasting a game or subscribing to a service.
 29. The apparatus ofclaim 28 wherein the games comprise gaming console games.
 30. Theapparatus of claim 27 wherein trending activity feed stories aredetermined based on comments and likes.
 31. The apparatus of claim 30wherein an activity feed with the most comments and/or the most likes isa most popular trending activity feed.
 32. A gaming console apparatuscomprising: a. a non-transitory memory for storing an application, theapplication for: i. displaying a gaming environment; ii. receiving onlytrending activity feed stories by retrieving a token from a gamingconsole network service implemented on a server device, wherein thetrending activity feed stories are based on a title of a game, furtherwherein a lookup table is utilized by the server device to match thetitle of the game with one or more translated titles of the game,wherein the server device filters activity feed stories in real time,wherein an aggregation queue is utilized by the server device to requestand aggregate the trending activity feed stories; and iii. displayingonly the trending activity feed stories in the gaming environment; andb. a processing component coupled to the memory, the processingcomponent configured for processing the application.
 33. The gamingconsole apparatus of claim 32 wherein trending activity feed stories aredetermined based on comments and likes.
 34. The gaming console apparatusof claim 33 wherein an activity feed with the most comments and/or themost likes is a most popular trending activity feed.